HIV Symptoms in Pregnancy
Here you can read about HIV symptoms in pregnancy. If you are HIV positive and you are pregnant, you must take up some measures to prevent HIV transmission to your unborn baby. You can do several things. Antiretroviral medications are considered very effective in preventing mother-to-child transmission. These medications cannot make HIV go away from your body, but they can prevent it from spreading and affecting your baby.
Antiretroviral Medications
These medications have proven effective in protecting the baby from HIV. However, they are effective in treating HIV only if the infection is detected early.
HIV can be transmitted to a baby in several ways. It can happen anytime during pregnancy or it can happen during delivery. Cesarean section is one of the ways to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
However, you should never take any medication without your doctor’s knowledge. Keep in mind that not all HIV medications are good for your baby. There are many different HIV medications. You must know that some of these can affect your baby and cause problems.
Different medications are administered in different periods of your pregnancy. An antiviral medication known as AZT (or ZDV) is used from the fourteenth week of pregnancy.
The treatment will continue after delivery and the baby will receive proper medications during the first several weeks (depending on a particular case). As we know, HIV infection takes some time to develop, so you will have to wait six months after your delivery to know whether your baby is infected or not.
Post-natal care is another important issue to consider. Your doctor will give you the best advice and you will have to be careful when feeding your baby. Formula milk is a good alternative for breast milk. As we know, breastfeeding is not recommended to HIV positive mothers, since HIV can easily be transmitted through breast milk.